The MP for Taunton and Wellington, Gideon Amos, told a Parliamentary debate that the proposed Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill could place the future of rural schools under threat.
The Bill represents a significant reform package, addressing both children’s social care and educational standards, with implications for public authorities, schools, and families throughout England.
But Mr Amos said that more than 300 people from his constituency had signed a petition calling for the Bill to be withdrawn and he also expressed concerns about its possible effects on children being educated at home, often while parents are trying to find a school their child can attend.
“My concerns are about rural schools and rural environments, where the limited resources mean that the Bill’s more onerous requirements on schools could drive some smaller rural schools out of the system and lead to them being closed.
“Rural areas have fewer and smaller schools, and rural schools have fewer administrative resources to deal with the new administrative burdens such as supporting staff to meet the new qualified teacher status requirements, dealing with increased monitoring, handling fluctuating pupil numbers and budgets, and so on.
“There are significant risks to small rural schools that may well lead to even more pupils ending up in home education settings as a result of the lack of choice and lack of diversity of supply in rural environments.
“If pupils and families do end up home educating, they will find the environment is even harsher and the support from the Government is even more non-existent than it was before, and that the general environment is less and less helpful.”
He added that “At the heart of this debate is a fallacy: that children are more at risk in home educating families than they are at school. In fact, the figures show the exact opposite".
Mr Amos said he was happy to accept some of the Bill’s provisions, but felt there were “real concerns about its more onerous requirements.”
He added: “I have significant concerns about the ‘single unique identifier’ in particular.
“Let us remember that it gives any public body the ability to share any information, whether or not it is right, correct and accurate, without the knowledge or consent of parents.
“Anyone who thinks the public sector is good at looking after our data, and getting it accurate, has probably been living on the moon.”
Mr Amos said that all the concerns which had led him to oppose digital ID cards also led him to oppose a digital ID for children.
“As the campaigners behind the petition have stated: ‘Once children’s data is out there it cannot be controlled nor put back in the box.’ I could not agree more.”
